The History of the Russiam Blue Cat in Israel

THE HISTORY OF THE RUSSIAN BLUE CAT IN ISRAEL

The first Russian Blue cats were brought to Israel by immigrants arriving from the former Soviet Union.

Over the past 15 years over a million people have immigrated to Israel from the Soviet Union and of course they brought their beloved pets with them, including the wonderful Russian Blue cat.

There are now three cat clubs in Israel, one FIFe club, one WCF club and one WCF affiliated club. The great majority of the members of these clubs are Russian speakers from the former Soviet Union.

The history of the Russian Blue cat in Israel is quite a short history. To this date, as far as my research shows, only four breeders have bred Russian Blues. The first Russian Blue arrived in the country in the early 1990's.

Irena and Mark Markish

The first breeders of RBs in Israel are Irena and Mark Markish. Their tom is the oldest in the country. He is now over 9 years old. He was shown at FIFe shows some years ago. They have two females. Regrettably the owners are not available at this time to be interviewed so there is no further information about their cats.

Sofiya Zueva

Around 1998 Sofiya Zueva from Russia brought Kolombina (Female) born 4.02.97 from Russia. She mated with Elizar and she gave birth to Ulis (Male) on 31.03.98. Ulis then became her breeding tom. One of their kittens was Zaryana (Female) born May 1999. Regrettably, Ulis died in the spring of 2002 and she is no longer breeding.

Inna Gritskov, Bella Bravo Cattery

Inna Gritskov breeds Russian Blues, Exotics and Persians and has 18 breeding cats in total. She has been breeding cats since 1999.

a) Cats

Inna Gritskov, who has the Bella Bravo Cattery, obtained Zaryana from Sofiya Zueva in 1999 and this was her first breeding female. Zaryana has many Russian Blues from Russia in her pedigree.

Inna then acquired

a male and female from the Ukraine. Olivia Huansytta (Female) born 27.12.98, came from a breeder in the Ukraine who does not have a registered cattery and Karel Gott (Male) of Yaroslavna born 11.08.99. Svetlana and Nikolai Volkov, who are WCF judges, choose these cats and brought them to Israel for Inna.

Inna Gritzkov's first litter was from Olivia Huansytta who was bred to Ulis. Their first litter was born on 23 February 2000. There were six kittens. There were

two males, Richard Lionheart and Raphael and

four females, Russian Rose, Rebecca Silver Rose, Riabina Red, and Robin Silver Rose.

Inna kept Robin Silver Rose and her first litter was in 2001. She had seven kittens. Werba was in this litter.

Inna's second litter was from Olivia Huansyta (Female) mated to Karel Gott of Yaroslavna. Olivia gave birth to 7 kittens on 28 June 2000, one of whom was Salamandra, later renamed Silver Star.

Olivia Huansytta and Karel's second litter was in 2001 and there were 7 kittens born. She had a rest for a year and in her third litter gave birth to 2 kittens. On 3 March 2002 she had her fourth litter of 4 kittens, one of whom is Anastasia. She gave birth to her fifth litter of 7 kittens on 8 Feb. 2003.

In 2002 Inna Gritskov registered her cattery as Bella Bravo with WCF.

Zaryana (Female) was born in May, 1999. To this date she has had 22 kittens in four litters.

Robin Silver Rose (Ulis (father) Olivia Huansytta (mother) born 23 February 2000) has had 12 kittens. In her first litter on 12 May 2001she had 7 kittens, one of whom is Werba. In her second litter she had 2 kittens and in her third litter on 8 Feb. 2003 she had 4 kittens.

b) Exhibitions and Show Results

All the cats of Bella Bravo have obtained Champion status.

Karel Gott of Yaroslavna Ð'- When he was shown in kitten class 6 to 10 months he received Nomination. He received his first CAC in 2000 and Nomination in short hair. He was second place in SH. Karel Gott was the first WCF Champion Russian Blue in Israel.